Question

1. (a) Explain why mercury biomagnification in an aquatic ecosystem could occur because of the local man-made hydrological changes and without any external source of mercury contamination. (b) Every year mercury concentration on the surface now in the Arctic increases rapidly during the spring and early summer. Describe the chemical process that contributes to this mercury deposition and explain how this process alters chemical speciation of mercury. (c) Explain how the physico-chemical characteristics of different chemical forms of mercury influence their fate and transport in the environment.